Maternal Awareness on Child Health Card and Factors Associated with its Retention in Salyan Village Development Committee of Kaski, Nepal

It is crucial to monitor the growth and development of a child in early stage of life to take early corrective action in time to ensure normal growth. Child health card (CHC) is a tool used to maintain records and monitor the under five children. The objective of this study was to find out the maternal awareness on CHC and factor associated with its retention. This was a cross sectional analytical study conducted among 198 mothers having <3 years child in Salyan VDC, Kaski, Nepal. The study found 61.1% retention of CHC. Only about one-fourth (25.8%) of the mothers had adequate level of awareness on different aspect of CHC. Of the 24 different independent variables studied; only nine (age of the child; place of delivery; antenatal and postnatal care services utilized; first choice health institution for treatment; maternal awareness on CHC; place of immunization; taking CHC regular to health facility and health worker ever counseled on CHC) were found positively associated with retention of CHC (P < 0.05). This study showed retention of CHC only in six-out of-ten studied cases. The study also revealed poor level of awareness on CHC in the study area. The study also highlighted on positive association of retention of CHC with counseling by health workers and increased use of health services.